Portable shower-bath



NATHANIEL` NVALERMAN, OF BGSLON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PORTABLE SHOWER-BATH.

Speccaton of Letters Patent No. 3,218, dated August 11, 1843.

To all `wlw/1t t may concern.'

Be it known that I, NATHANIEL l ATER MAN, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invent-ed a certain new, useful, and Portable Apparatus for Shower-Bathing, which term the Pneumatic Shower-Bath,7 and that the following description of the same, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings thereof, forms a full and exact specilication.

Figure l, of the drawings above mentioned, represents a side elevation of the apparatus, while Fig. 2, is a vertical and central section thereof, and Fig.A 3 is an end elevation or view, taken at right angles to the direct-ion in whichthe eye observes that of Fig. l.

A, Figs. 1, 2, 3, is a clear cylindrical vessel, or reservoir, formed of tin, copper or other proper material and having its bottom perforated by numerous holes, in a similar manner to the extremity of the spout of a garden watering pot, or to the bottom of the culinary article generally known by the name of a cullendeiz7 The vessel A has a valve B resting upon the upper end of a short tube C, which is inserted and opens into the top of the fountain A. The` stem D of the valve B, passes through a support ing strip of metal z o d, and is jointed to the inner extremity F of a lever F, G, H, whose fulcrum is at G, as seen in Fig. l, or uponwthetop of a suitable standard l, projecting upward from the side of the support piece ci b o d. A helical spring K,

placed bet-ween the valve B andthe upper or horizontal part 5 c of the support piece a b c CZ, presses the valve down upon its seat. a plate e, affixed to its upper edge, for the thumb to rest upon whenever it is applied directly to the lever to raise the valve B. The extremity H of the lever has one end of a vertical rod M jointed to it, the said rod passing through a guide piece N, soldered to the side of the vessel A, near its bottom as seenin Fig. 1. Below this guide piece the rod M terminates in ahorizontal circular ring O upon the top `side of which the second finger of the right hand is placed, while the thumb rests against the bottom The upper part of the arm G H, has

of the vessel A, whenever the vessel is used small rest or piece of tin P, bentinto the form as shown in Fig. 3, is soldered to the side of the vessel A, just below the extrem`- ity H, of the valve lever. This serves for a seat or rest for the second or third finger of the right hand, whenever the thumb is applied to the end of the valve lever, to depress the said end. A bent tube or handle Q B S is applied to the opposite side of the vessel A as seen in0 Fig. l. This is grasped by the left hand of a person when the apparatus is elevated and held over his head.

The operation of showering is as follows. The bather, standing in a suitable tub of water, forces the vessel A, bottom downwardly, into the water, at the same time applying one of his fingers of the right hand to t-he rest P, and the thumb thereof, to the end H of the valve lever, which latter being depressed so as to raise the valve, will cause thev water in the tub to rush up through the orifices of the bottom of the vessel A, thereby filling the same. The bath being then prepared and the thumb removed from the end H, of the valve lever the spring K will force the valve do-wn upon its seat, so that when the vessel is raised out of the water the pressure of the atmosphere will cause the .water therein, to be retained within the same until it is raised above the head and the valve'opened by means of the rod M;

`which being accomplished the water will descend through the numerous orifices of the bottom in a copious shower, upon the head and body of the bather.

I am awa-re that a portable pneumatic apparatus for shower bathing constructed with a chamber or vessel A having a perfo rated bottom and a tube or opening at top to be closed by the thumb, has been long known and used and therefore I do not claim such an article; but- That which l do claim consists in The arrangement of the fixtures applied to such an apparatus by lwhich the chamber thereof can be filled, raised `above the head and discharged by hand as set forth, viz, in combining with the valve lever, a finger rest P applied to the side of the fountain near its top, and also :L long rod M which this twenty second day of June 0f the year shall extend from said lever nearly down eighteen hundred and forty-three.

to the bottom of the 'fountain and there terminate n a` ring or other contrvance of like nature as described.

In testimony that the above is a correct specification I have hereto set my signature NATHL. WATERMAN.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, CALEB EDDY. 

